Customer Reviews

Overspray: Riding High with the Kings of California Airbrush Art

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Never knew airbrush art could be so beautiful! Actually, never knew much about airbrush art at all! This book really opened my eyes, and the accompanying blog ([...]) that shows how some of the work was restored is amazing... The Hall & Oates album cover really blew my mind! If you have any interest in art, design or record covers, this book is definitely worth checking out!

This is a wonderful book.

A timely visual celebration of airbrush mastery from a bygone era.

So nice to see all the greatest hits in 1 place.

I love the alternate covers, especially the Palombi 'This is why you're overweight' version. And let's not forget about the delicate blending of the caption art titles.

Crazy, sexy, cool.

Only thing that seems to be missing is Overspray 2

I didn't realize how complicated, intriguing and amazing air brush art could be!

I just thought it would all be like those airbrushed t-shirts you get at Six Flags or something; crazy neon sunsets with black silhouette palm trees.

This book shows that air brush art is infinitely more interesting than that! It's a real art form!

Great artist bios and content, too. I approve!

I've been waiting for this, having known some of the players. This is an art form that has all but disappeared and photoshop (here it's so obvious) is a cheap, easy and dull replacement. the images glow and the text is witty and informative. a light shines on a special corner of very american art history!

This book beautifully brings back memories of the '70s in California where I grew up. The art is luscious yet meticulous and masterfully reproduced in this volume. I'm sending it as gift to several of my old California buddies.

Just got this to give to an airbrush fan, but am going to keep it for myself! I've had it at my office for the past few days (I'm a graphic designer) and everyone loves flipping thru. Very inspirational for artists, illustrators, designers. Frankly, I've never thought too much about airbrush art before this, but I'm definitely a fan now. Book is beautifully designed, has a great feel.

...have to be sticklers for quality. This book is all about uncompromising visual quality. Whether or not you have been around in the seventies - if you have a thing for airbrush then this book is for you.

If you looked at print consumer culture in the Seventies and Eighties you must have seen some of the wonderful airbrush art in these pages. These guys (Dave Willardson, Charlie White III, Peter Lloyd and Peter Palombi) were everywhere back then. Dozens of LPs, greeting cards, movie posters, magazine covers and especially inside pages sort of saturated the market with airbrush art. As Mike Salisbury says in his essay (while he was Art Director of West magazine) the text of an article became secondary to the airbrush illustrations.

The book's seventy-two main images are most likely the best of what the four produced from the mid-sixties to the start of the eighties. My favorite was Charlie White III. I always liked the background textures he created in many of his works and his masterpiece was probably the poster he did for the Screaming Yellow Zonkers (I've got a copy somewhere, but it's still unframed) partly inspired by a Maxfield Parrish mural he saw in a New York hotel. Peter Palombi got inspiration from JC Leyendecker; other artists mentioned by the four include Bob Peak, Doug Johnson, Bernie Fuchs, Milton Glaser and Bob Grossman (who also did airbrush work).

Airbrush art requires exacting initial draftsmanship and I thought it was rather unfortunate that missing from the book are any examples of roughs that would show the preliminary work to these paintings though the front and back of the book cover does have part of a Palombi drawing for an Eddie Harris LP. Each color requires a mask to cover everything else and looking at these paintings you'll just have to wonder at the intricate shapes that were cut out and the patience involved.

The book is in an almost square format, printed on gloss paper with a 200 screen, with each artist's portfolio printed on black or nearly black pages (which will show up finger marks). The book is, though, rather over designed, I thought. The seventeen page essay by Mike Salisbury is set in an italic script and printed in orange type, while the interviews with the four artists are printed in grey type making it difficult to read but perhaps the most annoying thing are the thumbnail pictures on these text pages. There is plenty of page space throughout and it wouldn't have spoilt the presentation to make these pictures a reasonable size; captions might have helped the reader, too. There are no page numbers on the left-hand pages and on the right the number is spelt out. All these visual elements are no more than designer whimsy to my mind and rather spoil the overall feel of the book, so four stars.

Overspray is an interesting look at the LA commercial art market at a time when airbrush was king, though by focusing on just four key artists it leaves out plenty of others. A book I've always enjoyed is Air Powered which covers the history of the machine and has portfolios for ten main artists (including the Overspray four) and seventeen others plus chapters relating other types of airbrush art. It's a 224-page coffee-table book which can be bought quite cheaply on the net if you look around.

***SEE SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.

The illustrator who taught me everything I know about the airbrush and illustration techniques is featured in this book...Peter Lloyd, my dear friend, who sadly died last year. Peter's brother told me about the book and I ordered it from the States (I live in England now) and it's a beauty.

I was interested in Charles White airbrush pictures. This book is fabulous and not only has great illustrations, but also a lot of background information on the artist. Love the book!